Stormy Weather

Rarely is a single work as richly abundant with the cultural touchstones of its era as Stormy Weather, a proverbial who’s who of the legendary African American actors, singers, musicians, and dancers synonymous with early Hollywood. Boasting an almost exclusively Black cast, Stone’s tale of an aspiring dancer courting a popular singer spotlights not only stars like Lena Horne and Bill Robinson, but also musical talent of the day—like the Nicholas Brothers, Cab Calloway, and Fats Waller. A particularly striking scene features one of the most iconic dance sequences ever put on screen: the acrobatic, precise, and ecstatic routine from the Nicholas Brothers that Fred Astaire deemed the greatest movie musical number he had ever seen.